Maintaining Eagerness

PICTURES LATER, SORRY

The following is from a booklet of lectures called “After the Disappearance of Sri Guru” by Srila Gour Govinda Swami:

Devotee asks: I was eager to have guru. Now I have guru, but how do I maintain this constant eagerness?

Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja: You must maintain it by thinking, “Out of Krishna’s mercy I met my guru. But how can I always get the association of my guru?”

You should be very eager to always have the association of guru and listen to him. Unless you listen to your guru, your doubts cannot be dispelled. If you cannot get the mercy of guru, you cannot get Krishna. So you should be very, very eager, “How can I best serve my guru and please him?”

If gurudeva is pleased, then Krishna will be pleased and and you will get Krishna’s mercy; if gurudeva is displeased then where is your position, where is your place? So our concern, our duty, is to please the spiritual master. How is that done?

guru mukha padma vakya, cittete koriya aikya, ara na kariha mana asa
One should carry out the orders of the spiritual master. Gurudeva has many instructions. Some of his instructions are general, and some are specific. General instructions are for everyone. Specific instructions are what he tells specific, individual disciples. One should be especially eager to follow the individual instructions that gurudeva gave to you.

One should think, “Gurudeva has ordered me to do this. How can I best do it? How can I best please my spiritual master? How can I best serve and please him? Doing so I will get the mercy of Krishna. Otherwise, my life is unsuccessful.”

…One should think, “Oh, I can’t do anything. I’m such a wretched, unqualified, unworthy person! I cannot render any service to my guru. I cannot please him. I have not gotten anything. I have not got the mercy of my guru. I have not pleased him. I have not taken advantage of meeting my guru. Oh, what shall I do? I have not done anything. I do not have the mercy of my guru! How can I get his mercy?”

You should always think like that. …This is how you maintain eagerness.

Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja ki jai!

At one point he adds that one should not think, “I have got guru, I have pleased him,” because then we will not have eagerness.

In some ways I think this is hard, and painful – to think that we have not gotten the mercy, when we are so fortunate to have met Srila Gurudeva. But, we have to have that greed for more, for his mercy, greed to be a good disciple, to follow his instructions. And I have found that when I am trying to be humble and when I am thinking, “Am I pleasing guru?” then actually there is a kind of spiritual satisfaction that comes, somehow, of knowing this is good, to think like this…

I want to maintain eagerness.

If anyone has anything to add, please do.

If you are really thirsty…

Here is Srila Gurudeva at Radha kund. I am uploading this because today on Vraj Mandala Parikrama – walking through sacred Vrndavana – the devotees are going to Radha Kund.

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.

This beautiful reassurance and encouragement to be a good disciple and be humble comes from Srila Gour Govinda Swami:

Devotee: Some devotees say that now that
Srila Prabhupada [Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja] has left they don’t know
how to get his mercy and they are not sure
what to do. In reply you said that if someone
is really eager, their guru can appear in different
forms to help. Can you explain?

Gour Govinda Swami: This is a most
important question. You can see your guru
if you have developed the right vision.
Prahlad Maharaja saw the Supreme Lord
in a stone pillar. But his father saw only
the stone. You can see your guru if you are
really eager to see him. “Yes, my guru is
here. He is speaking to me.”

If you are really thirsty you will cry for water
and run,“Where is water? Where is water?”
This isreal eagerness. In the same way, if you
are eager for your guru’s instruction then you
will be able to see how he is there. He will
give you instructions. He will definitely
impart knowledge.

Devotee: In the form of sādhu and śāstra?

Gour Govinda Swami: Just like śāstra is always
there and sādhu is always there, similarly,
guru is always there. He is eternal. But
you are not eager. You have no thirst, so how
can you get water? You are not eager for
water, so how can you get water? “Oh, I have
gotten. I have no thirst.” This mentality is
very dangerous. You think yourself so great.
You are puffed up. You are not humble at all.
In the Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 17.31
Mahaprabhu says:

tṛṇād api su-nīcena
taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā māna-dena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

This is a very important thing. Kaviraj
Goswami says, make a garland of this verse,
put it around your neck, and do hari-bhajana.
Otherwise you are not doing hari-bhajana at
all. You are not feeling lower than the grass,
you are not more tolerant than a tree, you are
not free of false pride, and you are not giving
respect to all. So how will you do hari-bhajana?
But you say, “Oh I am doing hari-bhajana. I
am doing. I am doing.” This is not bhajana.

— From a darśana in Bhubaneswar, 14 November, 1991

The Way to Transcendence

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.

Lately I have not been able to post daily, weekly, even monthly. In order to rectify this, I am going to start a new thing – short posts with quotes from our guruvarga and vaisnavas. That way I can still get a post in and share, but I can have time for other things. Right now it is Kartik, and here in Srila Gurudeva’s New Braj, we are doing daily parikrama. This week is especially busy because we are preparing for Govardhan Puja! =) Jai!

Also I am doing evening pujari service for Sri Sri Radha Govinda. Pictures of them soon!

Here is our quote today:

Srila Gurudeva (Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja):

“You should know that the transcendental names and pastimes of Krsna are all transcendental. Our body, our senses, our tongue, and our ears are material. They can never reach transcendence. There is only one process by which they can touch it. By praying, praying, praying to the lotus feet of gurudeva and Krsna, they will come and they will be in oneness with our tongue, ears, senses, and hearts.”

– 29 April 2001

Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaja

“We must take shelter of His holy name; it is inseparable from His existence. The sound aspect of divinity can help us a great deal on the way back to Godhead. His holy name is our slogan, our war cry – “Hare Krsna!” With that slogan, we shall march on with His genuine agents. We must follow them and withdraw ourselves from all other possibilities and promises, all so-called prospects of life.”

– Swami B.R. Sridhar

It has been far too long since my last post. I have been engaged in reading, chanting, and parikrama, but still, this blog is something I shall not abandon and want to continue to engage myself in.

Today is the holy appearance day of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaja – JAI!!

Here is one excerpt from this very beautiful gem of a book, Sri Guru and His Grace:

“Everyone must ask himself, ‘Where am I? What is my real need? And how much am I hankering for the real thing?’

“All these things will be expressed, and made public. So, this is the real field of sadhana, or practice. Our practice, our advancement, needs all these difficulties. Otherwise we may not know what is progress…So, to purify ourselves it is necessary that many disturbances come.

“…The environment is in the hands of the Lord. He has not done any wrong to me. If I am sincere, then I have to adjust myself with this environment and put my faith before Him. By our stand in any circumstances in the battle, our patriotism will be put to the test. We will be tested to see whether we are real soldiers or not.

“Anything will come, but we will have to face that. I must not forget my Lord, my guru, my Gauranga, my Radha-Govinda, under any circumstances. Under all unfavorable circumstances, I must stand with my head erect and say, ‘Yes! I am a servant of that clan, that sampradaya. Everyone may leave me, but I shall stand alone!’

“With this attitude, we must march on, whatever the circumstances may be. Then….our superiors will be pleased with us.

“We must analyze ourselves. How much as we selfish? To what percent are our unwanted bad habits, anarthas, still present in our hearts? How much are the impurities of karma, jnana, mental desires, and other filthy things mixed with the real faith – that must come out, and that must be eliminated in different ways. If we want real good, no one can hinder us. With this spirit we must move and then we will be able to understand what is what.”

Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaja ki JAI!

The Spotless Authority

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.

I am about to begin memorizing the following verse, which Srila Gurudeva wanted all his disciples to learn:

aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum-artho mahan sri-caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is worshipped along with His transcendental abode Vrndavana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopis of Vrndavana. Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything and pure love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

– (Caitanya-matta-manjusa by Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything! wow! That is amazing. To think, we have the answers right there in that book. It will show us how to get the goal of life. Srila Prabhupada said this – he says it in his Preface to the 1st Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam – that by reading Srimad Bhagavatam, in order, by the end “one will know God perfectly well.”

How merciful are the Lord and His devotees, to give us this gem? It is spotless, without flaw. We can consult it on anything. And ANYONE can read it! Prabhupada says further in his Preface that, “The only qualification one needs to study this great book of transcendental knowledge is to proceed step by step cautiously, and not jump forward haphazardly as with an ordinary book.”

So, it is important that we read the Srimad Bhagavatam in order. Then we can reap full benefit.

Further glorification of Srimad Bhagavatam from the Bhagavatam itself:

“On the other hand, that literature which is full with descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, form and pastimes of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a transcendental creation meant to bring about a revolution in the impious life of a misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though irregularly composed, are heard, sung, and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.”

(Bhagavatam, 1.5.11, namanty anantasya yaso…)

I feel so fortunate to have heard Srila Gurudeva speak on this gem so many times. And yet, how much have I heard, and really taken in? Even so, I know I am fortunate to have had the transcendental power of his voice, his sweet harikatha, enter my ears, and I can only aspire to hear one day properly, to “take it in to [my] heart,” as he instructed us to at the end of each class of his. And! Just today, I heard from one didi that these transcendental personalities like Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada, they give us the power to follow their instructions. So we know that even if we can’t follow in this life, in some lifetime we can, and we should try for sooner rather than later, right? Srila Rupa Goswami tells us in his Upadesamrta to have both enthusiasm and patience in the path to bhakti (two of the six favorable qualities, Verse 3).

There is so much more to be said on that Bhagavatam verse, especially about the esteemed gopis of Sri Vrndavana dhama, and the topmost gopi, Srimati Radhika. I am not qualified to say anything. Here is more from Srila Gurudeva on the meaning of that verse, aradhyo bhagavan…

“Here, vraja-vadhu means the mood in which the gopis of Vraja worship Krsna, and the Srimad Bhagavatam is the immaculate scriptural evidence to verify this.

“We are so happy to invite all the vaisnavas just after Kartika to join in this program at Gopinath Bhavan on the bank of the Yamuna River. We have only one request. Listen attentively to drink this nectar. The benefit of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam is inestimable. The topmost achievement of the human form of life is krsna-prema.”

Jai! Gaura Premanande!